Callista 12" poseable fairie by Donna Schramek © 1997 5724 Pope Street Baltimore, MD 21225-3718   Free Instructions and Pattern!

Supplies for Callista

• 8" x 20" fleshtone cotton fabric for body (easy recipe for dying unbleached muslin included at bottom of page)
• 8" x 11 " for skirt
• 6" x 7" for bodice
• small scrap of fabric and fusible webbing for shoes
• 1 yard ribbon for shoes
• 8" x 20" cotton fabric for wings
• a 26" piece of 24 or 32 gauge wire for wings
• about 3 yards of fancy yarn for hair (may also use wool roving or goatskin)
• black or brown and red fine tip pigma pens for face
• acrylic craft paint for eyes
• red Berol Prismacolor pencil for checks
• matching threads for body, wings, and dress (I prefer nylon upholstery thread for sculpting)
• a length of monofilament line for hanging
• Recommended: hemostats and stuffing fork for turning and stuffing

Click HERE for pattern.

BODY - Trace pattern pieces onto body fabric. Mark the openings. With right sides together, stitch body pieces. (Note -do not stitch across toe of legs) Press with steam to set stitches. I feel this makes the seams stronger. Cut out body pieces and clip inside sharp turns. E.g. inside elbow, behind knee, above heel, at thumb. I prefer to cut small dolls with curves with pinking shears. This makes a nice smooth seam when turned.

LEG/ARMS - After cutting out legs, bring together toe seams and stitch across to give the foot a flat shape. Then lay the legs flat with knees and toes pointing out (important) and mark where you will make the slit for turning. This assures that you will have a slit on the inside of both legs.

Turn body, head, arms, and legs. Do not stuff body until legs are attached or she will have too many behinds. Stuff head. Stuff arms and legs. A hemostat and stuffing fork are most useful for stuffing narrow body parts. Stitch arm openings closed with a ladder stitch or a tiny whip stitch. Close inside leg openings with a whip stitch. Don't pull too tightly or she'll lose the fullness in her hips and thighs and she needs this to form her behind.

Put a very small amount of stuffing in lower body. This should almost be flat. Then attach legs to lower body by placing body in between legs and stitching through from leg to body to other leg and back. Repeat two or three times to squeeze behind together and then lock the stitch. There should be almost no body showing in the rear and a small amount of body dipping down in front of legs. Finish stuffing body (firmly at neck) and be sure to push a little stuffing down into front to round out her belly. Close back opening with tiny whip stitch. Attach arms by stitching through arm to body to other arm and back as with the legs. Repeat two or three times and lock stitch.

HEAD - Stuff head. Attach head by poking into stuffing to create a space and pushing down onto neck. Neck Must be stuffed firmly so that you can "screw" head down onto it. Turn head slightly to one side and pin in place.  Stitch onto neck with a small ladder stitch.

At this point, you can paint eyes and sculpt the head. For the eyes, place a small dot of paint for iris. When dry, place a small dot of white on either side of iris. Make a dot in center of eye for pupil. With a pin tip, place a white dot for sparkle. After that is dry, with a fine brown or black Pigma pen (.005 or .01) make an arch over the eye and draw a straight line just under the iris. Pull down 2 or 3 eyelashes on bottom and 3 or 4 eyelashes on top. A small dash for eyebrows. For lips use a red Pigma pen. Color cheeks with red Berol pencil or powdered blush.

With a single strand of nylon upholstery thread -

1) starting at back of head, insert needle and come out through inside comer of eye - back in at about the same place and out through inside comer of other eve - back in at same place and out through inside corner of opposite eye - back in at same place and out through back of head. Secure. This creates bridge of nose.

2) Starting at back of head, come out through outside comer of eye - back in at same place - out through outside corner of mouth - back in at same place - out through outside comer of same eye - then to back of head to secure. Repeat same for other side of face. This creates cheeks.

3) Starting at a point where the top of an ear might be, insert needle and come out below near where head is attached to neck - back in at same place and out at starting point.  Secure. This creates a jaw.

FAIRY DRESS - 

* Skirt - 

1) With right sides together fold 3-1/2" up (lengthwise), leaving about 1" of fabric exposed (this will be casing for the waist). On this fold, trace skirt hem. Stitch along traced line. By ending the points very near the folded edge, you will eliminate a lot of bulk when turning. Cut out, clip at turns, turn right side out, and press.

2) After turning fold the straight edge down about ½" and stitch straight across close to raw edge. This is the casing for the waist.

3) With right sides together, stitch the back seam closed.

4) Turn right side out and slip over Callista's hips. Secure thread at small of the back and starting at center back seam of skirt, run needle through casing coming out again at center back. Pull to desired tightness and lock the stitch in. Pull center front of waist down a little and secure with a stitch.

* Bodice - With right sides together, fold in half and trace pattern onto fabric. Stitch where indicated, turn, press. 

1) Starting at center back of doll, insert needle into doll back between shoulder blades and secure the thread. Run needle through top fold of bodice (as if it were a casing) and come around to center back again and lock the stitch in. Pull up a little at top center front and secure with a stitch. 

2) Starting at center back at lower edge of bodice, insert needle into body go through to front of body coming out at the point where lower center front of bodice will fall against body. Take a tiny stitch to secure center front of bodice to body, return to back and lock the stitch. Stitch the lower back edge in place.

1) Trace shoe pattern onto paper side of fusible webbing. Iron onto wrong side of shoe fabric. Cut this piece out, peel off paper and press onto wrong side of another piece shoe fabric. Cut out.

2)  Place a dab of white tacky glue onto shoe where indicated by an "x". Lay a 2" piece of ribbon towards the back and lay a 12" piece of ribbon across the toe. Wait about 15 minutes for the glue to dry. Then fold the 2" piece of ribbon back onto itself to form a loop. Wait a while until the glue is good and dry before attaching shoe. When the shoe is ready to put on, dab some glue onto the inside of sole so that it stays in place on the foot. Criss cross the toe ribbon on top of foot and slip into back loop. Bring around to front of leg and criss cross around to back. Glue in place at back of leg, trimming off excess ribbon. You can embellish shoes with beads or flowers if you like.

1) Trace pattern onto wrong side of fabric. Stitch around tracing, press, cut out about 1/4 inch from stitching. 

2) Lay wire onto seam allowance and with a wide, long zig zag stitch, stitch over wire, encasing it into the seam allowance. Clip excess wire with wire clippers. Turn. This gauge wire is easy to turn. After turning, smooth out wire with your fingers and press again. (Optional - if you choose, you can embellish wing with metallic top stitching or glitter paints.)

3) Gather up center of wing slightly and attach to Callista's back. If you are flying Callista, you can attach a length of nylon line or ribbon at top of wings.

You can embellish wherever you wish with ribbons, feathers, beads, bells, leaves, glitter or whatever you can dream up - Let your imagination fly :-)
 

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